The Ultimate Guide to Tigers Eye Crystals

Healing crystals are powerful stones that have a wide range of benefits and uses. They each possess peculiar properties that can be utilized to serve a variety of purposes. Let’s take a look at one of the most popular (and powerful) healing crystals...the Tiger's Eye crystal.

What Is a Tiger's Eye Crystal?

Within the large family of healing crystals and gemstones, few have the mysterious beauty and inexplicable allure of the Tigers Eye crystal. These crystals are usually mined from countries like South Africa, Brazil, Australia, China, Canada, India, Burma, Namibia, and Spain.

For those interested in a bit of gemology, Tigers Eye is a metamorphic chatoyant stone. This means that it has a pattern of brighter bands of lighter stone in between darker bands on both sides. This is one of the peculiar properties of the stone and certainly one of its most beautiful features.

The name of the stone comes from two of its features. One is its golden to red-brown coloration and smooth, silky luster. The other is due to the intensity with which the stone reflects golden rays of light when held up to a pure source of light like the sun, gleaming as brightly as a tiger's gaze in the darkness.

However, despite how alluring it appears, the beauty of this stone is not the only special thing about it. Within the world of healing crystals, the Tigers Eye crystal is known to be a powerful stone in the right hands and one with strong properties. Let’s take a deeper look into some of the properties of this stone.

Types of Tiger's Eye Crystals

There are several different types of Tigers Eyes crystals, each of which has its unique properties. Let’s take a look at some of the more commonly used forms.

Red Tiger's Eye

Red Tigers Eye crystals were traditionally worn by ancient Roman soldiers when going to battle and were also used by the Ancient Egyptians to capture the power of the sun god Ra and promote material success. They represent bravery, confidence, and self-worth. This probably stems from its strong connection to the Root Chakra, also known as the Muladhara Chakra.

The stones typically come in a variety of red hues, most commonly ranging from rust-colored to brick red. They also come in a wide range of patterns, all of which contain characteristic striations seen in other Tiger Eyes stones.

Red Tigers Eye is said to be a balancing stone and is great for clearing the mind and creating an atmosphere of willpower and confidence. It’s also a protection stone that helps ward off negative energies. It increases physical stamina, vitality, and prosperity, and is known to boost metabolism and the sex drive as well.

Purple Tiger's Eye

While the red Tigers Eye is a stone of physical strength, the purple Tigers Eye is a stone of the mind. Purple Tigers Eye is also associated with confidence but is more closely linked with increased mental resolve and perseverance. The stone does not occur naturally and is made from dyeing special types of yellow Tigers Eyes crystals.

The stone is meant to be a source of energy for individuals who feel their willpower is wavering and who need additional help. The stone is also popular among individuals dealing with anxiety, phobias, or issues stemming from a lack of self-confidence. It is also commonly known as a stone of inspiration and one that can help rejuvenate a fatigued mind.

The purple Tigers Eye is also known as a stone of the “inner eye”. This means that it allows the wearer to see the “true” nature of people and objects. This gives them a greater understanding of life and the necessary knowledge of how to navigate through tough situations.

Green Tiger's Eye

Like purple Tigers Eye, green Tigers Eye is another man-made gem that is created by dyeing a naturally occurring Tigers Eye gem. Green Tigers Eye crystals are popular warding stones and are known to be the most powerful shielding stones of all the Tiger Eyes. They are used to dispel negative energies as well as create a protective aura around the wearer.

Green Tigers Eye stones are also very helpful for individuals with severely blocked chakras. They can be used to cleanse the body of harmful energies and normalize the flow of energy throughout the body. Amethyst stones are commonly paired with green Tigers Eyes because both stones are associated with the Crown Chakra.

It can also be used to promote visualization and cleansing of the mind. A great way of using this stone is as a meditation tool. Hold the stone in your hand and concentrate on the outcome you wish for. This will help you channel your energy more efficiently towards this outcome.

Blue Tiger's Eye

Blue Tigers Eye crystals are most commonly associated with healing. This involves all aspects of healing. They are commonly used by individuals who are suffering from vague illnesses that it seems like orthodox treatments have failed to control. These may range from sleep disturbances to lower back pain and even recurrent unexplained bouts of illness.

The blue Tigers Eye isn’t just great for physical ailments though, it’s also a very potent healer of conditions affecting the mind and spirit as well. This includes anxiety, depression, nonrestorative sleep, compulsions, and so on.

The blue Tigers Eye stone has a very powerful calming effect, which is why it is a great sleeping aid and meditation tool. While the other Tigers Eye crystals are great at creating a sense of courage, the blue stone adds calm and stability to your persona as well.

How To Identify An Original Tiger's Eye Stone

Every Tigers Eye stone is unique. No two stones have the same hue, cut, polish, or energy. Even with all these differences, some key features help when identifying authentic stones from fake or substandard ones.

• Observe the Stone For the Characteristic Bands

As we mentioned before, one of the distinguishing features of Tigers Eye crystals is the distinctive lighter bands that run through the length of the stone. These bands are due to a property known as chatoyancy and have been said to resemble the eye slits of a cat.

These bands also have a peculiar effect that’s best noticed when the stone is held out to bright light. To demonstrate this, hold the stone under a bright lamp or shine a bright light on it. Slowly tilt the stone back and forth and watch how the lighter bands undulate gradually, making it appear as if the inside of the stone is moving. If the stone doesn't do this, it's not a real Tigers Eye crystal.

• Observe the Colors of the Stone

This may be somewhat difficult since some colors of Tigers Eye crystals are not naturally occurring such as purple and green. Real Tigers Eye crystals are made up of various hues of brown, gold, and yellow. The lines of these colors look like furrows in a rock. The colors might be a little different based on how dark or bright they are. For example, the brown in some stones can be so dark that it even appears black. If an undyed stone has certain color bands, it might not be a real Tigers Eye. For example, if the stone has reddish-brown stripes, it is probably the ox's eye. If the stone has bands of a bluish color, it is a hawk's eye.

• Observe the Shininess and Lustre of the Crystal

Like other popular gems, Tigers Eyes are valued for how shiny they are. This particular stone is a type of quartz. When polished, it has a silky finish and a shine similar to glass. Hold the stone up to the light to observe this properly. When you look at the stone in the light, the shine should have a silvery luster. Since most fake Tigers Eyes are made of glass fiber as well, this test may not be the best way to tell if the stone is real or not. So to be sure, you might want to use this test along with others too.

• Test the Hardness of the Stone 

The hardness of the stone is another way to test its authenticity. Quartz (the family of gems that Tigers Eye belongs to) is one of the hardest crystals. It has a score between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs scale. For this test, glass is used because it is much softer than quartz. Glass is a type of apatite, which has a Mohs hardness of about 5. Since Tigers Eye is a type of quartz, it should be able to scratch glass and not the other way around. This is a sure way to tell if the stone is real.

 Final Words

Tigers Eye crystals are powerful gemstones with a wide range of applications. Their beauty is undeniable and the peculiar properties they possess make them one of the most iconic and sought-after stones. When used properly they have numerous benefits and their calming, encouraging energy is a great way to bring stability to the flow of energy within you.